Sugar-Free Chocolate Fruit & Fresh Greens Pudding or Smoothie

Here’s a chocolate pudding that contains a bunch of super healthy ingredients like avocado, spinach, chia and bananas – yet is sugar-free and tastes both yummy and refreshing! I like to eat this as a snack, or for breakfast.

I’m also going to give you some variations on this recipe – depending on your preferences and nutritional needs. So here’s the recipe that I make, and then afterwards I’ll tell you the different ways you can modify it and still have it taste good.

1. If you want to drink this as a smoothie instead of a pudding, just leave out the chia seeds and add an extra 1/4 cup almond milk.

2. If you don’t have frozen bananas, use fresh bananas and then put the pudding in the freezer or fridge until thickened.

3. If you need to gain weight (muscle, not fat) then increase the protein powder to 1 or 2 full scoops. Both amounts (1 or 2 scoops) work taste-wise if using whey protein. If using veggie protein only increase to 1 full scoop or the taste will change significantly – which may be fine with you! But if you’re making this for kids, then definitely use the whey protein, if you can.

4. If you only want to use fruit and don’t want to use stevia or luo han guo, then substitute an extra half banana and 2 more dates instead.

5. And of course, you can use an alternate milk, like coconut or oat milk, if you prefer – just avoid carrageenan (due to gut issues).

Carrageenan is a common food additive, has no nutritional value and has been used as a thickener to improve the texture of ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk, and other processed foods. Some animal studies have linked degraded forms of carrageenan (the type not used in food) to ulcerations and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. More worrisome, undegraded carrageenan – the type that is widely used in foods – has been associated with malignancies and other stomach problems. So in Jini’s Health Maintenance Diet, she recommends to avoid foods containing preservatives, carrageenan or anything else that sounds like a manufactured chemical compound.

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